Wicked Physics
by perkier727
Summary: Elphaba and Glinda discuss what would happen if Glinda's bubble wasn't magical and Glinda had to save herself from falling. Of course, Elphaba can rationalize anything. Gelphie friendship/implied pairing.Wrote for my physics class.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Wicked or anything associated with it.**

**A/N: I originally wrote this for my high school physics class. We had to write a paper over our egg drop project and our teacher allowed us to write a story. I chose to work with Wicked because I know everything I possibly can about it. In this situation Glinda is the egg, her bubble is the container that is meant to protect her from the fall. Just saying, I did ok on this project, but I did terribly in physics (really hard class for me) so I apologize if the information is slightly incorrect. I also may have exaggerated some things. I hope it's not too confusing and that you enjoy it.**

It was a mild, spring day in the land of Oz and two of the famous witches could be seen flying about in the sky. They were none other than Elphaba, the wicked witch of the west, who no longer was deemed 'wicked', and Glinda, the good witch of the north. Now these two had two different methods for flying, one going by broom and the other going by bubble. Obviously Elphaba was quite confident, having enchanted the broom herself, that she would never fall off of it and if that were to happen it would simply react and catch her. However, Glinda, on the other hand, she wasn't so sure about. Glinda still had only shown small amounts of magical capability and bubbles don't exactly come with a back up plan. This thought caused Elphaba to stop her broom and turn back to Glinda, whom still couldn't keep up with her in that overly pink method of transportation.

"What is it Elphie? Why did we stop?" Glinda pouted at her friend, unhappy that she prevented them from seeing more of her adoring fans wave to them from below. Elphaba found this quite amusing.

"Glinda, when you originally made that spell for your bubble, did you ever think what would happen if it were to pop?" Glinda's face took on a shocked and horrified expression.

"Elphaba! That's a terrible thought! Of course I didn't! Who in the world would image themselves splatting on the yellow brick road? I mean really, that's so not splendiferous at all." Elphaba rolled her eyes at her friend's half serious attitude. Glinda could be such a ditz.

"Think about it Glinda, what causes that bubble to stay in the air." Now it was Glinda's turn to roll her eyes.

"Magic, duh Elphie."

"Magic, right, now let's say magic doesn't exist in this moment. Now nothing is keeping that bubble in the air. The only forces acting on the bubble would be gravity and the amount of air resistance acting on the bubble. For all intensive purposes let's say the bubble is more durable than it really is." Glinda looked slightly confused but nodded all the same.

"Ok, so am I gonna die in this situation? Because I'd rather not. You see I have an appointment for tea with Momsie later and I'm sure my situational mother would be distraught that her situational daughter had to cancel her appointment because her so called best friend killed her in this situation." Elphaba face palmed herself at Glinda's drama.

"Glinda, for the love of Oz, this isn't real. Just go with it. Ok so if you left the bubble as it is, of course you're going to die. So let's add some modifications. We need to take some things into account in this situation. Acceleration, velocity, mass-"

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No, Glinda, could you stop being overly dramatic for one second. I know that's hard, but try!" Glinda shut up immediately but scowled at the green girl none the less. "As I was saying, mass, distance, time, and force. So in order to not make you go look like a bloody mess on the ground let's add more surface area to that bubble. Can you morph it form me?"

"Um, I can try, I still don't see the point of this."

"Glinda, I'm not going to repeat myself. Just do it." Elphaba crossed her arms impatiently as Glinda morphed the bottom of her bubble into a flat square surface.

"Alright, so now your bubble has a base, causing more air resistance. Due to this change, if the bubble were to fall it would cause it to fall slower, increasing time, which lowers the speed of the velocity, while also reducing the force of impact." Glinda started clapping.

"I didn't die! Yay!" A slight cackle came from Elphaba but she continued on.

"Ok so we've lowered your velocity. However, the more mass there is, the faster the bubble will fall. Not to mention, something is going to have to compensate for the force of the ground pushing up when you hit it. If not, then you still take all the damage…wait never mind, you're thousand layer dress would probably save you because it would take the brunt of the force."

"Elphaba Thropp! My dress does not have a thousand layers! It only has 28 thank you very much!" Elphaba cringed.

"It would still probably take the impact. Seriously Glinda, do you have something against comfortable clothing? Who wears ball gowns all the time?"

"Me! And I look fantabulous!" Shaking her head, Elphaba carried on.

"So gravity acts on you once you start falling, the base of the bubble slows you down with increased air resistance, as a result your velocity is lowered, your mass remains the same as well as the gravity acting upon you, the time it takes you to fall is increased, the overall forces acting on you and when you hit the ground are reduced, and your incredibly ridiculous dress can compensate for the impact. Wonderful, you probably won't die." Glinda glared at Elphaba.

"Well, Miss I-can-rationalize-everything, if everything you're saying is true then why in the world would I die?" Elphaba shrugged.

"Things could happen. It's not like we've actually tried it or anything. Would you like to? Go ahead." Glinda would have slapped her friend for her sass, but the bubble got in the way. The most she could accomplish was a glare.

"Alright, I'll believe you for now. Can we please continue with our flight? This day is too nice to waste on pointless theories." Elphaba nodded and they continued to fly beside each other. After a few minutes Glinda looked towards Elphaba.

"Hey, Elphie?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we make a scenario where you die this time?" Elphaba laughed at this.

"I suppose it's only fair isn't it? Alright, have your fun. How am I possibly dying?"

"Oh, oh, oh! I know! Ok! Suppose a young girl from another world comes and throws a bucket of water on you, and-" Elphaba turned and shoved Glinda's bubble. Glinda fell over, upsetting her tiara. "Elphie what was that for!"

"Glinda, I was talking about physics. A real study used to logically explain why things happen and how. Your's on the other hand would never happen. It's ridiculous! There's no such thing as another world. I have no idea where those thoughts come from in that blissful blonde brain of yours, but please try to be realistic." Glinda crossed her arms after righting herself and huffed.

"Well I thought we were talking about an alternate reality. You're the one talking about this falling nonsense. My bubble would never pop and magic keeps it up in the air. You're the one with the ridiculous scenario Elphaba." At that moment, Elphaba removed the magical properties of Glinda's bubble, causing it to plummet. Glinda screamed and tried to place the magic back on it, but it failed. When Glinda was almost 10 ft from the ground Elphaba swooped in on her broom, causing the bubble to pop and Glinda to end up behind Elphaba. Glinda clung to the green witch as tightly as she could. Elphaba just continued laughing at Glinda's frazzled state.

"Elphaba Thropp don't you ever do that again!"

"It's alright Glinda, you don't ever have to worry about falling, do you know why?" Glinda shook her head, no. "You don't have to worry about making sure your bubble will keep you safe, because if you ever were to fall I would catch you. We don't need physics Glinda."

"And why's that Elphie? You seem to know a lot about it so why would you say we don't need it if it explains so much?"

"I defy physics, Glinda. I defy gravity."


End file.
